Candy Hearts
by GoldenFlither
Summary: A little Valentines Day story. Abby receives a very special gift.


**Candy Hearts**

It was a misty day, to tell you the truth. Now usually Valentines Day was considered one of those romantic cheery days where couples go outside and do things together. However today did not provide that kind of opportunity. Just depression. That or even indoor love. Not for everybody though.

Through the misty fog, there stood a large and tall tree growing out of a house. But that wasn't why they called it a 'treehouse' though. The reason for that was that the tree had a bunch of wood and metal built onto it, making it seem worth living in. On this tree, there was one large piece of wood (_large_ large, I mean.) And on this _large_ large piece of wood was a _large_ large number; the number '5'. It created the wall of a _large_ large room.

Abigail Lincoln, a dark-skinned girl with a long neat braid, lay in this room on her back and stared up at the ceiling. She watched the ceiling fan go round and round. In her hands she had a little red package. It was in the shape of a heart, with a small white bow sticking out of it on the front. She was playing with it between her hands, gently passing it to each hand back and forth, listening to the small racket chiming from inside of it.

Her mind was on several things at the moment. One, the main one as a matter of fact, was her friends.

There was Wallabee Beatles, the short one. But Abby didn't judge by height. She judged him by smartness, which he didn't seem to have that much of. No offense to him or anything. However, Abby found him very outgoing and eager, which was what made him such a good operative, and a friend.

Also, there was Kuki Sanban. She kind of reminded Abby of Wallabee. But she was a little different in other ways. Maybe their brains were almost the same size. But their actions reflected their own personalities. Kuki was also outgoing, in a way of love, fun and maybe even a few hugs here and there. Abby respected her because of her, and that was a great friend to cheer those sad ones.

Then there came Hoagie P. Gilligan. He had a bigger brain that Wally and Kuki, but returned his own side of him. He was one of those boys in which you would call a 'nerd'; with the trading cards and total admiration for technology. But there was something about Hoagie that made him a good person. Probably that he never really related himself to others; he was his own person. Even if he did tell idiotic puns.

And finally, there was Nigel Uno. Now _he_ was completely different than the rest of them. He most definitely had something about him that did not relate to anyone else on the team. He was smart, brave and everything a guy should be. She respected him, not only because he was her leader, but because he seemed to always be devoted to what he had to do. And that's what made him the _great_ leader.

To tell you the truth, there was another reason for all the respect. I'm sure most of you know why. Abby suddenly stopped all the other lingering thoughts and dedicated them all towards that one thought that skipped her mind.

Just then, coincidently, a soft knock echoed on the door. Abby, too lazy to get up, remained in place. "Come in," she said loudly.

The door creaked open, and through the small opening between the rim of the doorway and the actual door, was a head. A bald head with a pair of shades rested on top of his nose, barely covering up his eyes. "Numbuh 5?" Nigel Uno muttered, curiously.

Abby sat up straight. "Hey boss, what's up?" she inquired gradually.

Nigel opened the door wider and squeezed through the opening. "Um, may I come in? I'd like to talk a little."

"Sure think, Numbuh 1. Come on in," she replied, moving over to the side of her bed to make room for the boy.

He responded by walking over, slowly, and taking a seat at the edge of her bed. Then he stared at her, almost blankly. But it wasn't blankly. Something was in the stare. Something unknown and scary.

"Numbuh 1?" she asked, looking at him.

"Um…" he was now looking down, at his fingers playing around with each other. "I did something today."

"Cool! Numbuh 5 did something today too." Nigel rolled his eyes at the sarcastic remark. Abby gently nudged his arm. "Come on, you gotta be a lil' more specific than that."

Nigel looked at her again, ignoring his fingers now. "It's sort of about…somebody."

Abby looked at him vacantly, as if waiting. "Go on…who's the someone?"

"You wouldn't be too interested if I told you," he replied. "But just to make it clear, we had a little…argument today."

"Your mom?" Abby asked.

Nigel chuckled slightly, his concentration back on his fingers. "No, not my mother. My… well, _her_. You know..._her_." The smile he had in thoughts of his mother suddenly faded at the next word.

Abby now crossed her legs and leaned in towards him. "What happened?" she demanded, gently.

"I…broke up with her."

She almost gasped. But she didn't. It was just a stare, wide-eyed stare. "Ouch. On _Valentines Day_? Pretty harsh."

"I know, I know! I shouldn't have done it," he exclaimed. "I just got so stressed out of the blue! I had to contact Moonbase about the missing mission specs, which I could not do today because of the surprise mission at the candy shop for some adults ridding all the candy apples for sugar-free hearts. _Then_ I had to go and visit some relative with my parents, which I had to call my dad about to say I couldn't go, but I really didn't want too anyway. And _then_ I have to finish up the mission file from weeks ago, which I couldn't do because I've got all these other things going on!"

Nigel sighed; Abby continued staring now vacantly again. Then the boy continued. "I guess all I'm trying to say is that I can't really juggle all this duty anymore. I should at least eliminate the one thing that's been mainly been causing me all of this stress."

A silence passed over them. Nigel's eyes stayed at his lap for a few seconds, before turning to his friend. She was still looking at him. He cocked an eyebrow and waved his hand in front of her face. "Hello?"

Abby laughed and pushed his hand away playfully. Nigel grinned mischievously and sarcastic irritation as he shoved her as well. Abby maintained her status. "Sorry, just came a little fast."

Nigel chuckled "Sorry about that. Just had to…let it out, you know?"

Abby nodded. "Well, Numbuh 5's just got one thing ta say."

"Shoot."

"Um…why'd ya do it?" she asked, a little quietly. "Out of all the things ya could've given up. Why'd ya go an' break up with Lizzie?"

"Why?" he repeated, simply. Abby nodded. Nigel breathed in loudly. "Because I think…I just think that I might…have greater doubts about us together than I ever did before."

Abby, once again, seemed a bit shocked by the statement. "What'd ya mean?"

He shrugged, as if he did not know how to answer her. But he did. "I…think that I don't really love her…the way I thought I did. I mean, who knows? Maybe there's somebody else out there for me. Before today, I always assumed that Lizzie was that girl. But now…" he trailed off for some reason.

She lightly placed a hand on his lap. "Well, Numbuh 5's thinking' that maybe all that stress got to yo head for about a year or so."

Nigel laughed delicately. Abby smiled. She quite enjoyed hearing people laugh. It always brought kind spirits to the area. But hearing Nigel's wasn't like other kind spirits. More like a thousand angels rushing through the room. And she had absolutely no idea why.

"Well, the point is, it's over now," he claimed.

Abby nodded. "Yup. And the good thing is Numbuh 5 didn't have to say one thing to ya."

Nigel nodded with a laughable smile. "Yeah well, you helped a lot, anyway." He looked at her lap, right in between her legs, where a small box rested. "What's that?" he asked, curiously.

Her head swiftly moved down to her lap; to the box. "Oh, this? Found it on my bed today. Don know who it's from, though," she replied. She lifted the box to in front of her, onto the covers of her bed. She looked up at him. He was grinning widely. She suddenly grinned as well. "You?"

"Yeah…I just figured that, well, it _is_ Valentines day, right? Everybody deserves something. And I thought you might like these."

She smiled at him. "Thanks, Numbuh 1. That was sweet."

Oh, how he hated when he was called by his codename. It's like he didn't have a name, so they just had to use numbers. He wished desperately all of a sudden to be called by his real name for once. Aside from Lizzie's voice box, of course.

Abby lifted the box to their level and placed it on her legs. "Should I open it?" she asked.

Nigel shrugged. "If you like…"

She smiled and cautiously slipped her fingers underneath the rim of the lid. She quickly glanced up at him. They made swift eye contact. Abby's smile small smile grew bigger as she carefully pulled off the lid. Inside the box was a bunch of little candies, all in the shape of a heart.

Abby glanced up at him once more, this time longer. "Oh my gosh…I can't believe you remember."

Nigel's grin widened as well. "We used to always get these from our parents every single Valentines Day…"

"Then we'd find a little quiet spot to be by ourselves…" she continued for him.

"And we'd pick out all the candies with the messages we didn't understand…" Nigel carried on.

"Then we'd exchange the ones that we wanted to tell each other…" Abby drifted off.

"Once we were finished exchanging and reading, we'd struggle to break them in half…"

"But we never could…"

Nigel laughed and continued. "So then we'd just end up splitting them up evenly, and giving the one's we didn't want to our parents."

Abby laughed, compassionately. The memory would never leave her, and she knew it very well. It was like they were best friends yesterday. "What ever happened to that tradition?" she asked.

Nigel sighed. "I don't know, but I think I rather miss it."

"Me too," she agreed with the same kind of sigh. There was silence for a moment.

Abby reached into the little bowl of heart-shaped candies. Her fingers twiddled around for a little while. Then, she slowly pulled them, out, holding one of the candies.

Nigel looked at it for a second and smiled. "What does it say?"

She lifted it to her level, about 30 centimeters away from her eyes. Her eyes scanned it for a second or maybe a second and a half. As those seconds passed, the smile grew wider and wider. She then showed him.

'_I like you_' was what it read.

Nigel grinned as well and took his gaze away from the heart and to her. Then, he reached into the box and twiddled around in it as well. A little over three seconds passed before he pulled out another heart. He looked up at her; handed her the heart.

She took it and read the words.

'_I love you'_

She was still staring at the words, as if she thought it were lying to her eyes. She heard more rustling with the candy. Not bothering to glance up, she read the words once more, 'I love you' and then again, 'I love you'. It just never seemed to change.

Abby looked up when she realized that the rustling had stopped. She looked straight into Nigel's eyes, right over the rim of his sunglasses. She was then handed another candy. Without even taking it from him, she could read it, clearly and smoothly.

'_Kiss me_'

Abby stared at the candy for a moment. Then she looked up once again. Once again, she stared right into those beautiful eyes of his. He had meant what he'd shown her.

Nigel was the first to move in, slowly. She complied. They continued to close into each other until something wouldn't allow them anymore: their lips. It was just a peck, because it didn't take long before Abby pulled away.

"But…"

Nigel suddenly placed his finger on her lips. He didn't say a word. All he did was reach and grab that same candy heart and held it up for her to see '_I love you'_.

Abby smiled, his fingers still at her lips. She took his hand, gently pulled it away, to her side. He lay down on the bed, feet sprawled across the bed. Abby lay down beside him, facing him, a little lower that where his head lay, still holding his hand softly. He wrapped his soft warm arms around her, pulling her into a hug.

You see, sometimes things can go as fast as they want to, and still be meaningful. Sometimes they just mean something you don't really understand until everything stands still. Like right now, for instance. Sometimes, you just don't need words to talk to the ones you actually do care about. All you need is a box of candy hearts.

**The End**


End file.
